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1. Flaherty be sent to Norfolk and taught how to hit.2. Someone (anyone) called up to replace him.3. JJ Hardy and Matt Wieters start to hit the ball. Any day now would be nice...4. Same for Nolan Reimold.5. A starter go 7 innings.

Flaherty sent down to get his confidence back, fix a few of his weaknesses and get back into a hitting groove. After sitting last year he almost seems rushed. I really like him and I do think he could be a starter for us but needs to take a step back before forward. Best case scenario is he goes down for a month, starts hitting and carries it back to the majors.

BRob is still a question.

Schoop isnt ready yet.

Since Ryan isnt hitting we dont lose anything by going with Alexi for a month until BRob is ready or Ryan comes back up.

I totally agree. I wanted this when he showed up in camp and proved the knee was a problem fixed. I wanted this before he ends up having a big year and his price goes way up. There are not alot of innings in that arm. I think he can be one of the top 20 Starters in the league for the next 3 years. No matter what happens with our up and comming young pitchers, he would be great to combine with any of them.

At this point I have got to believe HE is the one holding out for a bigger contract. That he knew he was going to have a big year and took the risk. I believe this because DD/Buck usually do the right thing and probably already have addressed this.

I don't know about a Jason Hammel extension. He's a solid pitcher, but I don't think he is the ace we saw at the beginning of 2012. If you look at his month-by-month statistics for 2012, he really wasn't that great after April. He throws pretty hard, has a good enough wrinkle to keep the hitters off-balance, and has largely become a more efficient pitcher thanks to the evolution of his two seam fastball. But, I'd have to look at a pitch chart of him, but I haven't really identified a quality change-up. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't get to watch many games. Overall though, I think he is about as good as Jeremy Guthrie. He should be a enticing trade chip say we fall out of contention, as should JJ Hardy, Jim Johnson, and Nate McLouth.

I'm optimistic we're going to be in contention and will be potential buyers. I think a lot depends on how Schoop and Gausman develop this season. Can they have an impact on this club by August?? DD has already shown he is not bashful about moving elite prospects along if he feels they are not being challenged

Reimold sit for a few days and work on hitting the ball the other way. He has always been best when he does. He pulls everything right now. Weak ground balls or a K. I still believe in him but he is out of wack and running out of time. If we can get him going it would be another weapon in the lineup.

LA Detective wrote:Reimold sit for a few days and work on hitting the ball the other way. He has always been best when he does. He pulls everything right now. Weak ground balls or a K. I still believe in him but he is out of wack and running out of time. If we can get him going it would be another weapon in the lineup.

I don't think anything's carved in stone, but he's probably got until around June 1st to get it going or a change will be made.

I think a lot depends on Henry Urrutia and if he's ready. Right now, they want him to improve his outfield play and get his baseball instincts back after being out of the game for a year.Plus, they'd want to send him up to triple-A and get him exposure to the veteran pitchers there.I think he'd see a lot more breaking pitches, change-ups, etc. at Norfolk and he needs to get experience w/the soft stuff.

But if he passes those tests, he's up here as the DH. Reimold w/revert to a RH platooner and fill-in outfielder or be traded at that point. I'm thinking late June or early July.But if Reimold starts to hit as he's capable of hitting, then I'd think he'd remain the man.